Blood Buzzards
Overview The Blood Buzzards are a unique fleet based chapter founded during the 24th founding in M39. You see, unlike most space marine chapter the Blood Buzzards lack a steady supply of weapons and equipment from the Adeptus Mechanicus. ''This has led the chapter to develop a rather peculiar habit of looting and or, scavenging whatever they need from their countless battlefields scattered throughout the stars. Of course, this isn't the only irregularity in the Buzzards' doctrine. The various Buzzards' New members can also recruited from the feral worlds the chapter scours in search of lost technology. The Buzzards specialize in rapid assaults and orbital strikes. They will either use formations of Assault Marines and Drop Pods to attack the enemy from behind or send large formations of Assault Marines hurtling into the enemy lines to inflict massive casualties and cause confusion before retreating. This does not bother the Buzzards however as they embrace the weapons of old. They see the opportunity to utilize weapons once welded by the space marines old as a great privilege. They are considered close allies of the Imperial Guard. This is due to the fact that the Buzzards have always assisted the Guard whenever possible. Though, whether this is because of the chapter's affinity towards fellow servants of the God Emperor, or because they wish to loot the countless husks left behind in the aftermath of every Imperial victory is unknown. It fact, most of the chapter's heavy bolters, lascanons, and auto cannons began their lives attached to one of the Guards countless vehicles. History The Blood Buzzards are unique among Space Marine chapters in that they don't claim lineage from one particular Primarch or Legion but instead, from every Legion. This is more than likely do the fact that they have no real record of which Primarch, Legion, or Chapter they're a successor of. Not even the grave offense that originally alienated the Chapter from the ''Adeptus Mechanicus remains within the chapter's archives. They view themselves as simply a part of the vast lineage of Adeptus Astartes. All that is know of the chapters early history is that it was founded during the 24th founding in M39. Since their creation, the Buzzards have always been "scavengers". Imperial records show that all of the vassals that made up the Buzzards' original fleet came from different chapters. In fact, most of them were recorded as having been destroyed decades, or even centuries beforehand. Even today their fleet consists of countless different vessels of varying class, some of which have been modified or repaired to the point where they are unrecognizable. Everything from converted civilian transports to former imperial navy vessels though lost. In fact, one of the earliest records of the Buzzards comes from an imperial navy Captain. The report states that two Mars class battlecruisers were attacked by a massive fleet or Ork pirates. The attack left One ship crippled and the other in nearly the same condition. Luckily two Battle Barges bearing the Buzzards' markings appeared and quickly dispatched of the Orks. The Marines then contacted the captain of the remaining battle-cruiser and asked for permission to take the crippled battle-cruiser as payment for their assistant. The captain agreed though he insisted the ship would never work again due to how severely it had been damaged. The same vessel was later sighted orbiting a planet where the Buzzards were engaged in combat nearly a decade later. The Buzzards' rather ragtag fleet is rarely deployed in its entirety. Instead, it is divided amongst the various Battle Companies scattered throughout the Milky Way, assisting in the mankind's holy crusade to reclaim the countless Imperial worlds lost in the never ending wars of the 41st millennium. The largest part or this fleet is always assigned to the Chapter's 1st company. In the Chapters entire history, they have possessed only three Chapter Masters, Thomas Drax, Alexander Nexus and David Drakken it's current leader. Thomas was killed while on a mission to retrieve a long lost relic of the Blood Buzzards, rumored to have been hidden on a Death World on the ever fringes of Human and Ork space. Seeing as most of the 1st company was dealing with a rather large fleet of Orks that were assaulting a group of agri-worlds, Thomas elected to only bring a single frigate with him along with three Elite Terminators from his elite bodyguard. On the why back form this mission they received a distress beacon from a general in the imperial guard saying that one of the planets the 1st company was defending was about to be overrun. The message said that the small detachment of Space Marines that had been assisting in the planet's defense had been slain and that the remaining Imperial Guard regiments were about to be wiped out. That meant they would need immediate assistance if they hoped to evacuate the planets civilian population before the Orks could iraticate them. Never being one to the turn down a request for help from a fellow servant of the Emperor, Thomas agreed to assist them. He ordered the ship's crew to take the frigate and assist in the evacuation while he dawned his ancient suit of Terminator Plate, entered a Thunderhawk alongside his bodyguards, and went to assist the Imperial Guard in holding of the Ork horde. While in route their Thunderhawk was crippled by enemy flak, forcing the Chapter Master and his body guards to leap from the doomed craft and fall to the ground crushing several Orks as they landed. A colonel stationed on the front line records the engagement: "The Space Marines fell from the sky like avenging angels, the sound of thunder echoing as they landed amongst the vile greenskin hoard. It was a sight so spectacular scores of men began to pray as though the Emperor himself had come to save them. And what a sight it was, four marines standing back to back, surrounded by an ocean of greenskins, slaying any Ork brave enough or foolish enough to face them. Within minutes, scores of Orks lay dead at their feet. Soon, the Ork Warboss himself charged through the horde, killing dozens of his own men, in a mad rush to face off against the noble marines. Yet, even he could not slay those valiant warriors. I swear the sight of that Warboss falling to the ground in a bloody heap was so glorious that our commissars had to threaten death just to keep the men from charging to their add, an act that would have meant certain death for any guardsmen foolish enough to attempt it. Eventually, the voice of their chapter master came over our Vox casters. He ordered us to fall back so that we could be evacuated with the civilians. Without question we complied, and that was the last I ever saw of those brave marines." Unfortunately, that was the last time anyone would ever see Chapter Master Drax or his bodyguards alive. No one knows how long they survived the onslaught, but we do know that those brave warriors were eventually overwhelmed and killed by the vile Xenos scum. Their actions did, however, ensure the survival of countless civilians and imperial guardsmen, a fact that is well recorded in the record halls of The Bloody Retribution. Following the death of Thomas Drax the Buzzards went through their traditional procedure for choosing a Chapter Master. A consul of the chapter's eldest members meets to determine who the Emperor favors as their next chapter master. Normally they come to the conclusion that trial by combat is the best why to determine this. Traditionally, this takes the form of a tournament where any member of the elite first company may volunteer to take part in a serious of matches where combatants face off in unarmed combat against one another. Sense they are all evenly matched, at least on paper, anyone capable of defeating countless of their own brothers in combat clearly has asstance from the God emperor. Thus they are the one selected to lead the Chapter. Through this process ,they selected their next chapter master, Alexander Nexeus. Unlike Thomas, the details of Alexander's death are a little, fuzzy. All that is known is that the Chapter Master lead a rather large portion of the Chapter's 1st Fleet to help liberate a world that was under siege from a mighty Ork Waagh!!!. In a desperate attempt to cut off the head of this seemingly unstoppable Ork horde Alexander took command of one of the fleets oldest battleships, The Eternal Spear, and headed straight into the heart of the enemy fleet while the rest of his battle group was sent to assist the Imperial garrosion. After that, the only record regaurding the fate of the Spear was that it immediately charged head on at the Ork Flagship. Rumor has it that Chapter Master Alexander rallied his bodyguards, every battle brother on board, and any chapter serf willing to take up arms and teleported aboard the enemy vessel while the battleship continued to fight on, hell bent on destroying as many ork ships as possible before it was destroyed. Nobody knows exactly what happened to the Chapter Master and his ragtag boarding force once they entered the enemy ship. But, the record does state that roughly an hour after the Chapter Master boarded the ship, it exploded in a fireball so massive it was visible from the planet's surface. Then it comes to the Buzzards' final Chapter Master, David Drakken. While Chapter Master Nexeus was attempting to stop the Ork Waagh! a newly prompted member of the First Company was being sent on a mission to a far away system. That Battle Brother was David Draken the space marine ever granted entance to the chapter's elite First Company. Promoted for his actions in the defense of Matthew Prime, a forgeworld under siege by Dark Elder, was considered to be one of the fiercest warriors in the chapter, even despite his realitive youth. The young Marine was tasked with leading a small group of marines from the Sixth battle Company to retrieve a group of initiates from a feral world the Chapter had visited several months earlier. It wasn't expected to be a very important or hazardous mission due to the large Imperial Guards presence on the planet. You see, the planet had just been called upon to supply a large detachment of imperial guards men for an upcoming crusade. Thus three regiments of Imperial Guardsmen were armed and ready on the planet's surface. Because of this David was only given command of half a dozen rookie space marines. It was clear that something was wrong as soon as they landed on the planet's surface. The once lush plans of the planets where now to ash, the towns appeared to have been pillaged and burned, and dead defilled bodies littered the ground. It turns out that a Chaos Champion of Slaanesh had come to the planet and corrupted not only the population but the newly recruited Imperial Guard regiments. In fact the only person on the planet still loyal to the Imperium on the planet was a single Inquisitor. The lone Inquisitor, a lady by the name of Amanda Venus, informed the space Marines that the Ordo Hereticus had sent her along with several companies of Imperial Stormtroopers to purge what they had thought was a large cult of Choas worshipers. Upon arrival they came to the same realization as the Buzzards. They had tried to route out the Daemon them self only to be overwhelmed by the shear number of cultist and Traitor Guardsmen. David, not wanting to waste his men on a suicide mission, was about to retreat back to his ship when the Inquisitor told them some horrifying news. The Chaos Champion was attempting to ascend to the rank of Daemon Prince using the whole planet as an alter to help in his ascension. So David and his squad followed the inquisitor towards the Choas Champions location fully prepared to sacrifice themselves to slay the horrid servant of chaos. After a fierce battle, during which two of his Space Marines died, it came down to the Inquisitor versus the Choas Champion. Unfortunately the Inquisitor proved no match for the Choas Champion and soon found herself wounded on the ground about to be struck down by the Chaos Champion. Out of options David charged the Vile heretic head on smashing him in the face with his Power Fist. After a dense and heated battle the heretic attempted to corrupt the Marine like he did the rest of the world. What he said next is forever recorded in the records of the chapter. "You may be able to corrupt mere mortals with your words heretic, but I am no mere man. I am fire! I am death! I am vengeance! I! AM! Astartes!" With that he leaped at his foe unleashing a hailstorm of blows against the champion. Finally managing to get the Champion off his feet wounding him with his Power Fist. Taking the opportunity, he grabbed the Inquisitor's power sword and decapitated him. He then returned to his ship and headed back to the fleet with the inquisitor in toe and the Champion's head in had. Upon arriving at the fleet he led them back to the planet and submitted it to an Exterminatus. Hearing of his actions in defeating the Champion from not only his fellow marines but an Imperial Inquisitor the chapter decided that David Maximus should be made the Chapters new Chapter Master. The logic behind this was that to defeat such a foe he must have been protected by the Emperor himself. So they decided to forgo the chapters normal selection process. This made him not only the first Chapter Master not to go through the selection tournament but also the youngest Chapter Master ever. He is actually one of the youngest Chapter Masters in all of the Adeptus Astartes, a fact that often leads to mockery from some of the more experienced Chapter Masters. Chapter Culture Despite lacking knowledge of their Founding chapter the Blood Buzzards have a very strong Chapter culture. Each and every Blood Buzzards Battle Brother is trained in not only combat but history. This is due to the fact that the Buzzards see them selves as not only soldiers but historians of the Emperor. They see it as their sworn duty to carry on and protect the lineage of the Adeptus Astartes. They do this by protecting both their most prized relics and their most famous stories. In that way they see themselves as scholars, a title that is Incorporated into the chapter specific title of Blood Scholar. These veterans serve in the Chapter's Second Company and are given the all important task of seeking out and retrieving artifacts and relics. In fact the entire Second Chapter is tasked with this holy mission thought the Scholars are the ones who normally lead the way. Along with being assigned to the Second Company, Bloody Scholars are also assigned to other companies if the need arises though this does not happen often. The same can be said about the Chapter's Tech Marines. Like the Bloody Scholars Tech Marines are assigned to the Second Company or given to others on a case by case bases. This is rather rare however seeing as Tech Marines generally stay with the Chapter's fleet repairing the various artifacts, relics and ships of the chapter. Unlike other chapters the Buzzards consider their Tech Marines as valued and honored members of the company. Another thing that sets the members of the Blood Buzzards apart from other Chapters is that each and everyone of them is trained in the repair and up keep of their own wargear and vehicles. That and the fact that they feel pride for the accomplishments of not only their own Chapter but all Astartes considering them all to be part of one proud legacy of Space Marines. They even celebrate the accomplishments of the what they refer to as the "Lost Legions", the Space Marine Legions that would later go on to become the Traitor Legion that are known today. They believe that any and all connect to not only their fellow chapters but their former identities was fortified when they betrayed the Imperium. Meaning that the legions that fought in the Great Crusade all the way up to the Horus Heresy are not same legions as the ones who actually betrayed the empire. At least in their eyes. This believe has caused some trouble for the chapter in the past both with the Inquisition and the Minotuars, with whom they've had several confrontations. In fact the Minotuars are the only chapter that the Vultures refuse to identify with. Their problems with the Inquisition have diminished a good bit sense David Maximus's appointment as Chapter Master. The chapter is on good terms with most other chapters though some do taunt them, saying they are more concerned with looting battlefields and finding relics then they are with fighting against the enemies of the Imperium. They also have a relatively good relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus through several Knight Worlds they're allied with. The Buzzards have a long standing agreement with a number of Imperial Knight Worlds that they will return any and all Imperial Knight battle suits they locate to their rightful owner. An agreement witch often brings them into conflict with various primitive populations that view these suits as Gods or ideals to be prayed to. The two factions also have a lose defense pact meaning if one is in dire assistance the other will come to their add, circumstances rarely require this. In fact the chapter's tactics are rather poorly compatible with the hulking war machines. Their relationship with the Mechanicus isn't perfect however as the Machine cult generally disproves of the Buzzards looting heavy weapons from the imperial guard and modifying them for use by individual battle brothers. They prefer fast strike tactics using units of Assault Marines, which the chapter has many of, or other small units of more conventional infantry. Like tactical, scout or occasionally devastator marines. In fact, they will occasionally employ a tactic referred to as "The Claws of Ruk", named after the marine who invented it. It involves having assault marines leap out of Thunderhawks strait into enemy formations in order to inflict massive amounts of casualties and to sow fear and confusion among the enemy lines. Once this is done the marines will quickly leap away to a safe distance, hopefully only taking a relatively some number of casualties in the process. This is similar to their standard tactic of having assault marines jump into enemy formations only it involves deploying from the air thus it can be done as the first attack by a strike force in orbit. It also allows for the marines to be inserted into the very rear of the enemy formation. This will hopefully allow the marines to take out the enemy's command structure or support units. A variation of this tactic can be used where Terminator squads replace the Assault Marines with them teleporting away instead of jumping. This variation on the basic strategy is sometimes called the "Nexeus Hammer" due to the similarities between it and the last stand of the Chapter's first Master. This however is employed even less then the standard version mostly due to the value of Tactical Dreadnought Armor. When it is deployed however, the effects can often be devastating especially against light infantry. They've also been know to deploy large groups of Scout Marines. Most of the Buzzards' Scout Marine squads consist of the Chapters new recruits but some are made up of hardened Veterans. These elite squads are called are Blood Talons, and they are highly trained. They are proficient in everything from ambush tactics, long range reconnaissance patrols, field assassinations, counter sniper activities, and sabotage. Some of these scouts are even given access to the Chapters supply of Assault Bikes. They are also trained to use these bikes to assist in specialized ambush tactics, this involves a Scout Marine riding attacking a large group of enemies to lure them into a trap set by the rest of his unit. This strategy can also be done with Assault Marines instead of Assault Bikes. Category:Imperium Category:Space Marines Category:Space Marine Chapters Category:Unknown Geneseed Category:24th Founding